Feb 2018 v01 online

enough –” he put his hand on mine, warm, and
squeezed it into a fist. I felt nothing but a gentle
touch, and pulled my hand away as his
disappeared through it, white knuckled. “– you
lose the realism,” he finished.
almost off his feet and into one of the dining
tables at which another couple had just received
some simulated steak. His pink-faced
embarrassment was almost enough to make up
for the terrible advances.
“That is – so weird,” I said, rubbing my hand
with discomfort. I knew, if I really needed to, I
could dislodge the AR drive just behind my ear,
and the room and everyone within it would
disappear – still, my primal sense of danger
pricked its ears in the virtual presence of this
man.
“Yeah. The more you pay, the more sensory
realism. The most expensive services with Živa
are the ones that give you full sensory
immersion for – well, for more intimate
relationships.” Dan left his hand on the table,
close to mine. I finished my Old Fashioned.
Dan quickly ordered me another one. “I guess,
if this is your first time, you haven’t seen any of
the expensive rooms yet,” he said after a few
moments of silence.
There were a few more moments of silence.
“No. I haven’t.”
“I mean, they’re pretty amazing. They can
tailor them to your preferences. The décor you
like, the music, the sensations.” He drew little
circles on the bar with his index finger.
“Champagne, scented candles, silk sheets –” He
brushed my hand again. I put it under the bar.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I said curtly. “I'm
just here to talk.” Dan’s expression went dark.
“Screw you, then,” he said after a moment’s
deliberation, getting to his feet. “You aren't
worth a third drink and I'm not even paying for
them.”
My eyes doubled in size and my mouth
dropped open. He teetered off, downing his
second Old Fashioned on the way and then
slamming the glass on the bar. Another tilting
of the supposed cruise ship knocked him
As he tried to climb back to his feet, another
“ding” sounded in my head. Confirmation
from the team in Dubai. They were in the
building – no, they were in the room. In front
of me, Dan rose to one knee and was suddenly
flung several feet across the room by some
unseen force. He let out a shriek and struggled
– he could feel hands on him, force, as he was
jolted and dragged and lifted from the ground
by invisible assailants. The Dubai team had no
Živa programme installed into their AR
implants, so while they could see Dan, they
couldn’t see anyone else in the room, and no
one wearing the drive could see them. Faces
turned towards the perplexing struggle.
Dan, yelling, tried to remove his own drive, to
see what’s going on, but immediately his arms
were pinned back and he was lifted from the
ground, kicking blindly, terrified. I realised I
was on my feet, poised for defence – there’s
nothing I could do from London, but my years
as an investigator refused to catch me on the
back foot while a perpetrator struggled for
escape.