Chapter 16 – THE SIM
The place reminded Vincent of Simon’s cellar – the walls were dark and damp; the floor was slick and streaked with mud; the air clung to one’s skin like a thick sweat. Here, however, the space was not so cramped. It was taller and longer, and curved to the ceiling in the shape of a tunnel.
Vincent looked to his side. Jessica was there next to him, propped, as he was, against a giant metal grate. On the other side of the grate, behind them, the tunnel was dark. Ahead of them the view was equally dull: a rusted table sitting along the left wall, a tattered black curtain hanging from the ceiling.
“Wake her.”
Vincent whipped his head in the direction of the voice. Opposite the table, John was leaned up against the wall. Vincent had looked right past him.
“Now, if you can,” said John. “We have work to do.”
Flustered, Vincent turned to Jessica, but she had already stirred from the voices. She blinked a few times before opening her eyes fully.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“The base of the Order,” said John. “In a city ‘we’ bombed out of existence.” He looked around at the curved, grime-stained walls. “Sewers,” he said. “But we call them tunnels. It’s easier that way”
Jessica was looking up at John now, still seeming confused. “How did we get here?” she asked.
“Transports,” said John. “We flew for over an hour. You two were out for most of it.”
“But how did we get out of Hux?” said Vincent. “And how do they not know where we are? How did you know they were going to–”
“Easy,” said John, grinning. He had a calm, confident way about him that reminded Vincent of Brian. “Our transports are modified,” he said. “They’re invisible to Newsight satellites. We can go wherever we want.”
“Then let’s go to the Seclusion,” said Jessica. “We can rescue my dad and everyone else they’ve taken.”
“In time,” said John, as level as ever. “But you just got here. There are things you need to know.”
Vincent remembered in a rush. “THE SIM,” he said. “I had it in my…” He trailed off when John raised the small, fragile disc up to the light.
“It’s safe,” he said. “My mother informed me you may have had it, but I had my doubts. How did you find it?”
“Your brother,” said Jessica. “He told us where it was.”
John tilted his head back in a silent question. He looked at them both. “Brian told you?”
Vincent and Jessica both nodded. John looked away from them. His gaze was locked on a puddle that appeared to be leaking from under the grate.
“Were you with him in any of your newsims?” he said, looking up. “Or my mother?” His tone was wavering now – he sounded concerned.
They shook their heads. “No,” said Vincent. “Why?”
John took a breath. He held up the small round disc in his hand. “These are the kind of sims you know,” he said. “You’re more familiar with the digital format, but the idea is the same: they’re instructional, simple. Newsims aren’t so straightforward. You’ll have been told how they work – they detect what the user wants to experience – but you won’t have been told why. It’s not for the user’s benefit, it’s for Newsight’s. They monitor each newsim closely, and any suspicious activity is reported and tracked.”
“And flagged,” said Jessica.
John nodded. “That’s why I asked about Brian and my mother,” he said. “If either of you were with them in your newsim, and you spoke about the Order, they could be in danger.”
Vincent cocked his head, frowning. “They?” he repeated. “Did…Lynn not tell you what–”
“I never saw them,” cut in Jessica. Vincent turned to her, confused, but she didn’t look at him. “I was with my dad,” she continued. “My mom was still alive, too. We were working on our transport to take it off the grid.”
John nodded, relaxing a little. He turned to Vincent, expectant. Vincent was still looking at Jessica. Her cheeks were sucked into her mouth.
“Vincent?” prompted John.
Vincent watched Jessica for a moment longer, frowning. “I was with my parents, too,” he said after a pause. He turned back to John. “We were just talking. Maybe about things we shouldn’t have been.”
“It’s all right,” said John. “That doesn’t matter now. My family is safe, and so are you two.” He smiled as he looked down at them. Vincent turned once again to Jessica. She refused to look at him. “You cut it close, though,” said John. “Had we not been watching you after the HQ run in, you may have been taken away.”
Jessica frowned. “To where?” she said.
“Save your questions,” said John. “This will answer them far better than I can.” He held up THE SIM once again.
“Have you seen it?” asked Jessica. “Has all of the Order seen it?”
“I have,” said John. “But most haven’t, no. This is the only copy.” He tossed it to them. Vincent caught it, a bit clumsily, in his palms.
“There’s only one?” he asked.
“Only one container,” said John. “There are about a dozen copies inside, but they’re always kept together.”
“So what happens if they’re destroyed?” asked Vincent.
John grinned. “Better to risk having them destroyed than to have copies floating around in the wrong hands. Anyone who wants to watch will have to sit where you’re sitting.”
Vincent looked down at the ordinary, dirt-covered mat that had been spread out beneath them.
“Do we get to watch it?” asked Jessica. John smiled.
“Of course you do,” he said. “You’re in the Order now. And you’re heroes for bringing that with you. Goodwin will be pleased.”
“So he is real,” said Vincent. “Goodwin?”
John smiled once again. He pointed to THE SIM. “It’s all in there,” he said. He started for the curtain. “You’ll see.”
“But how can we watch it?” asked Vincent. “They darkened our Lenses.”
“And so did we,” said John. “You’re on our network now. You can communicate with other members of the Order, and you can watch whatever sim you like. Newsight is blind.” He started once again for the curtain. “We can talk more when you’ve finished.” He shot them one last smile, and he was gone.
Before the curtain had settled, Jessica was reaching for the disc. Vincent closed his fist around it before she could take it.
“What are you doing?” he said.
“He said we could watch it. I’m just–”
“Not that,” said Vincent. He motioned to the curtain. “With John. Why didn’t you let me tell him?”
Jessica looked up at him for the first time. Her face was lined with guilt. “We just got here,” she said. “I didn’t want to ruin it before we learned anything. Besides, what happened to Brian was my fault and John would–”
“It wasn’t your fault,” said Vincent.
Jessica said nothing. She merely stared, weakly, back at him. Her teeth were clenched down on the inside of her cheeks. Her eyes were wide, glistening at the corners. In the dim, yellow glow of the bulbs above, Vincent could see the hurt hiding beneath her Lenses. The guilt.
“Jessica it wasn’t your fault,” he said. His voice was softer now. His words faded as quickly as the faint dripping behind the grate. “It wasn’t,” he repeated. “John will understand that.”
Jessica looked up at the curtain where John had just disappeared. She didn’t seem convinced.
“I can be the one to tell him,” said Vincent.
“No,” said Jessica. “I’ll tell him.” She turned away from the curtain, back to Vincent’s closed fist. “But after this.”
As if by a switch, she seemed composed again, but Vincent wasn’t fooled. He could read the emotion in her face just as he had learned to detect the slight shake in her voice.
“There will be a better time,” pressed Jessica. “Just not now.”
Vincent watched her for a second longer, then glanced at the curtain. He bit his bottom lip.
“Here,” said Jessica. She placed her hands on his, gently, and pulled his fingers open. Before he had turned back to her, she had lifted the disc from his palm and flipped open the top.
“We’ll watch it for Brian,” she said.
Vincent looked down at the thin, miniature Lenses in the container. “And we’ll tell John?” he said.
“We will,” said Jessica. “Soon.”
Vincent watched her for a moment longer, then took a breath. He nodded.
Moments later they had laid the thin prints over their eyes. The dimly lit tunnel had turned completely dark, no outline, no silhouette, just black; and a deep, hoarse-sounding voice was beginning to speak
“THE SIMULATION OF THE ORDER”
“Control by Lenses”
“Newsight is three different companies to three different types of consumers. To understand Newsight’s various methods of control, we must first understand the types of consumers being controlled.
“The first type, the majority, prioritizes happiness over freedom, and is by far the largest of the three. People of this type have only two needs: safety and entertainment.
“The second type, the minority, prioritizes freedom over happiness, and is significantly fewer than the majority. People of this type require careful cultivation of two main qualities: their intellect, and their desire for fulfillment.
“The third type, the few, has no priority between freedom and happiness. They are indifferent. These people are the easiest to control. In the eyes of Newsight, however, they are also the most detestable.
“With these three types in mind, let us consider Newsight’s most prominent method of control: Lenses. Lenses have an uncountable many features, but we will concern ourselves only with the most important: the simulations and the collection of data.
“Newsight uses simulations to control its individual consumers. The method of this control, of course, varies by type. For the majority, simulations provide a customizable, virtual experience with no effort on the part of the user – called newsim. Newsim is designed to satisfy every impulse imaginable: the violent, the vain, the gluttonous, the adventurous, the cruel. Each experience is tailored to the specific tendencies and desires of the participant. One newsim might depict an entire fabricated world in which the participant lives long term and in real time. Another might depict nothing but a single room for a single moment. Others still might be limited to singular sensations or emotions. These capabilities alone would combine for near perfect entertainment, but the activity would still require some sort of effort by the user, which, for the majority, is like repellant. Newsim, however, requires no such effort. The nature of the sim, the creation of it, the context – everything is handled by Newsight. The only action required of the participant is the decision to begin the simulation. Newsight, with their near omniscient collection of data, knows without asking what the user wants to experience, even if, in the user himself, that desire is unclear. For the majority, newsim is the perfect form of entertainment, and, often, their only reason for existence. The simulations are, after all, much more favorable than real life.
“For the minority, instructional simulations provide ample opportunity to gain knowledge. Long term, these simulations fall short in satisfying the minority’s need for fulfilment, but, as we will see, Newsight has devised a solution to this shortcoming.
“For the few, simulations are irrelevant. Newsight has no desire to control the few.
“Simulations provide Newsight with a mechanism to control individuals on a day-to-day basis. The collection of data, conversely, provides Newsight a method of control on a larger scale. Once again, this method, this harvest of data, is reliant upon Lenses. Lenses have access to everything about their user: where he goes, who he sees, what products he looks at in the store window, what jokes he laughs at, what women he looks at longer than others, what he spends his currency on, what currency he has, what mistakes he makes, what laws he breaks, what food he shoves down his throat. The technology of the Lenses allows for a near seamless interface between human brain and computer; in fact, a near upload of the former to the latter. For years, the government restricted the kind of information Newsight collected. Eventually, however, some politicians wanted the information just as badly as Newsight. What did the voters want them to say? To look like? They were prepared to lift whatever regulations necessary to answer those questions. But this readiness to repeal the regulations was not universal. There still existed a surprising number of politicians whose value of privacy exceeded their desire for re-election. As long as these men and women held firm, the privacy regulations could not be repealed on a large scale. To counter this resistance, Newsight shifted from the collection of data, to the manipulation of it.
“For anything less than an omnipotent organization, to censor is to risk revolution. The producer of the original content, unless censored himself, will tell of the fabrication, and the consumer of the content, if not sufficiently surrounded by other fabrications, will sense the lie. Newsight recognized this early on, so in its counterattack of the politicians in its way, it did not use the Lenses to alter existing news. Instead, it made news of its own. Thus, Newsight began acting in the name of the Order.
“We will discuss the implications of this strategy, but first, some history.
“Geographic Alteration by Terror”
“Newsight was founded some 40 years ago by a young entrepreneur named Alduss Fatrem. The company began with only one product. Though technologically revolutionary, Lenses were incredibly simple. The small slips of glass did only what cell phones did previously: communicate, browse the web, and service applications. It was the first time humans had interacted so intimately with technology, and there was a ripple of panic. Fatrem had anticipated this, and before the ripple could turn into a wave, he lobbied for privacy regulations against his own company. He chained his own hands and gave the government the key. They would do quarterly audits on the information collected by Newsight, and neither the politicians nor Fatrem would have access to it. To the public, it was a dream come true. They traded none of their privacy for all of the convenience they could imagine. But it turned out they weren’t imagining large enough. By the time Lenses had been adopted on a large scale, Newsight’s product line had sprawled into every industry imaginable. They focused on projects for the social good: defense, space exploration, energy. But their forays included the everyday, as well. They made vehicles, called transports. They made houses, called domes. They made medicine, called injections. They did everything. Their products had created an entire cohesive network. Daily life had become intertwined with it, in some cases held captive by it. The market had been penetrated, but Fatrem was far from content. His plan had only just begun.
“It is commonly known Newsight produces defense systems for cities, and, in some cases, entire nations. It is also commonly known that Newsight’s satellite and global positioning technology dominates the western hemisphere. What is far from common knowledge, and what has yet to be confirmed by actual evidence, is Newsight’s production of weaponry. This theory, that Newsight is capable of producing arms, in conjunction with Fatrem’s fondness of buying large, isolated tracts of land, points to one undeniable truth:
“Newsight, with its vast, privatized territories, and with its near monopoly on satellite surveillance, has established factories to produce an arsenal. It has stockpiled enough missiles, launch facilities, and fighter jets to furnish a large scale terrorist organization. Only it has not just furnished such an organization; it has become one.
“By acting as terrorists in the name of the Order, Newsight solved three problems in one admittedly genius stroke. The first of these problems was the existence of the actual Order. For years, the Order had been Newsight’s main opponent, lobbying for stricter regulations on privacy, and campaigning against the latest products. The Order was a constant thorn i
n Fatrem’s side.
“The second problem, and the one already mentioned, was Newsight’s lack of data access. Fatrem had built an empire, but his subjects had been sealed from him by the politicians still in resistance.
“The third and final problem was the inherent differences between how the majority and the minority used and reacted to Lenses. As we have mentioned, the setting of interaction for these two groups is vitally important to their control.
“Three problems, one solution. Let us proceed with each problem in more detail.
“Newsight’s first terrorist attacks came, fittingly, against its own factories. There was real damage, with real casualties, from real bombs. It didn’t take much investigation for the public to decide the attack had been launched by the Order. The known leaders of the Order’s protest at the time were imprisoned, and things were silent for a while – people thought the Order was dead. When the attacks continued, some against more Newsight locations, others against areas high in Newsight support, the media latched onto the only feasible explanation: the Order lived on, and they were determined to wreak as much havoc on Newsight as possible. The identity earned by the earliest members of the Order as nonviolent protestors had taken a murderous turn.
“By undermining the name of the Order, Newsight solved their first problem: the presence of protestors. The solution to the second problem, the one pertaining to data access, follows close behind.
“Slowly, the attacks began to expand from Newsight related targets to civilian settlements, then to government buildings. The true Order began to disappear, and Newsight’s Order began to grow. The public came to view the Order as the world’s menace. Every government west of the Atlantic declared open war on terrorism, and they expended innumerable resources in pursuit of the Order’s defeat. After years of these ineffectual efforts, the public grew restless. They wanted justice; they wanted blood. And who else should offer their help? Newsight began approaching municipalities, insisting that, with the right data, and with total participation in the Lens standard, it could find the secret members of the Order and put a stop to the attacks. The pressure on governments to mandate the wearing of Lenses increased with every attack, and eventually, at the urging of the public, it grew to be too much. City after city gave in – they required their citizens to wear Lenses; they gave Newsight access to the data – and each was rewarded with relative peace. The cities that repeal the regulations, however, never quite see an end to the violence. Newsight makes sure of it. A complete stop would mean the cities have no reason to continue to allow Newsight access to their data. A complete stop, also, would invalidate Newsight’s meticulously executed strategy of discovering politicians to be shadow agents for the Order. Without a continued stream of minor attacks, Newsight’s undermining of the government they aim to overthrow would crumble.
“This solves Newsight’s second problem. In exchange for catching the perpetrators of the violence it itself manufactures, Newsight receives more data than any one man could possibly conceive. The remaining hope in this arena is that, in spite of the cities’ individual weaknesses, the national government stands strong. To date, the Senate has abstained from widespread privacy regulation repeals. This fragile and rather surprising show of strength is the only obstacle between Newsight and total control of public information.
“The third and final main problem faced by Newsight was mentioned at the very beginning of this simulation: the inherent difference between the majority and the minority, and the need to separate them.
“Newsight’s attacks were not intended solely to instill fear – they served a clear purpose. They began on the outskirts of society, in rural areas, in the sparsely populated countryside, herding people to the cities. The cities that have made a deal with Newsight – standard cities – serve as a trap for the immigrants unlucky enough to enter their gates. The cities that resist, are only temporary. One by one, they have received their warnings: join our fight against Newsight or die (there is, of course, no way of joining the fight), and one by one their inhabitants have either fled to standard cities, or they have perished. What results is a population concentrated in large, easily surveilled settlements. This provides the perfect opportunity for sorting.
“The majority, with their systemic lack of motivation and craving of leisure, are most easily controlled by Newsight if they are kept in a state of perpetual bliss. The minority, with their longing for fulfillment and knowledge, are deeply unsatisfied by meaningless leisure, and on it they catch the scent of manipulation. The most reasonable course of action for Newsight, then, assuming their ultimate aim is ultimate control, is to segregate these two groups. Cities are reserved for the chains of mind-numbing entertainment, and Seclusions for those of metal. Therefore, when driven into a Newsight stronghold by the Order’s warnings, every man woman and child is subjected to review upon the reception of his or her Lenses. Those judged to be in the majority are allowed to stay in the city; those judged to be in the minority are sent to a Seclusion; and those judged to be in the few are taken away.
“Residents of the cities, largely because of newsim, grow enamored with Newsight. This love is how Newsight maintains control in the cities, but that is only half of their effort. Their mantra: THERE IS NO LOVE WITHOUT HATRED, requires a second part as well. Newsight believes that for any individual to offer love, he must also offer hate. For this reason, Newsight ensures citizens of the cities maintain a healthy hatred of the Order. If the residents for some reason begin to forget this hatred, they are reminded of it through another attack. Thus, Newsight can continue to be loved, and the cities can continue to be controlled.
“Residents of the Seclusions, besides those inhabitants of Newsight’s own Seclusion, are essentially workers in a labor camp. They are underfed, mistreated, tortured, and filled with terror. This fear is how Newsight maintains its control in the Seclusions, but, like in the cities, Newsight requires something else as well. Listen to their mantra: THERE IS NO FEAR WITHOUT HOPE. Newsight believes that no man can be afraid of his captors without first having some small hope of deceiving them. For this reason, Newsight encourages the slim but ever present promise of escape. If Seclusion residents begin to lose their hope for this escape, they are renewed of it by watching one of their fellows find his freedom. Thus, Newsight can continue to be feared, and the Seclusions can continue to be controlled.
“Newsight’s three main problems – the presence of protestors, access to data, and separation of the types – have been comprehensively solved by the conversion of the Order to a terrorist group. Newsight’s Order, however, is only a mask. The face beneath is far different.
“The True Order”
“The Order does exist, and it is resolved against the aims of Newsight. However, this does not make the prospects of its victory any less daunting. The situation just outlined is on the brink of uncorrectable. Perhaps it has already crossed this threshold. Either way, we cannot stand by and watch our world fall to men who would destroy it only to sit atop the rubble. What follows is what we know.
“Newsight is not the only producer of Lenses. The technology has been successfully replicated by two other corporations: WeSee, which manufactures for a large portion of the Asian continent; and Allwatch, which manufactures for the European and African continents. The trajectories of these other companies are eerily aligned with Newsight’s own. We must operate under the assumption, then, that we will receive no outside help.
“If you are watching this simulation, you are now one of the Order. You have joined the fight against the corporation called Newsight. Believe as we do: the Lenses will be removed, and the world will see once again.”
The voice ended with an echo, and the blackness of the sim was filled with the rotating eye of Newsight. Only now, the eye lacked its central part – it was only the outline that remained. It continued to rotate, in complete silence, as the blackness faded, and the tunnel returned.
“The Lenses will be removed, and the world wi
ll see once again.”
The last line of THE SIM was recited again by the same, deep voice that had said it inside their heads. Vincent blinked several times to make sure the simulation had ended. He blinked several more times when the curtain they were facing split down the middle, and a tall, wrinkled man with hollowed out pits for eyes walked through the center. Vincent knew without question this was the owner of the deep voice.
“My name is George Goodwin,” the man said. “Welcome to the Order.”